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+# Presenters
+
+This type of class is responsible for giving the view an object which defines
+**view-related logic/data methods**. It is usually useful to extract such
+methods from models to presenters.
+
+## When to use a presenter?
+
+### When your view is full of logic
+
+When your view is full of logic (`if`, `else`, `select` on arrays etc.), it's
+time to create a presenter!
+
+### When your model has a lot of view-related logic/data methods
+
+When your model has a lot of view-related logic/data methods, you can easily
+move them to a presenter.
+
+## Why are we using presenters instead of helpers?
+
+We don't use presenters to generate complex view output that would rely on helpers.
+
+Presenters should be used for:
+
+- Data and logic methods that can be pulled & combined into single methods from
+ view. This can include loops extracted from views too. A good example is
+ https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/7073/diffs.
+- Data and logic methods that can be pulled from models.
+- Simple text output methods: it's ok if the method returns a string, but not a
+ whole DOM element for which we'd need HAML, a view context, helpers etc.
+
+## Why use presenters instead of model concerns?
+
+We should strive to follow the single-responsibility principle, and view-related
+logic/data methods are definitely not the responsibility of models!
+
+Another reason is as follows:
+
+> Avoid using concerns and use presenters instead. Why? After all, concerns seem
+to be a core part of Rails and can DRY up code when shared among multiple models.
+Nonetheless, the main issue is that concerns don’t make the model object more
+cohesive. The code is just better organized. In other words, there’s no real
+change to the API of the model.
+
+– https://www.toptal.com/ruby-on-rails/decoupling-rails-components
+
+## Benefits
+
+By moving pure view-related logic/data methods from models & views to presenters,
+we gain the following benefits:
+
+- rules are more explicit and centralized in the presenter => improves security
+- testing is easier and faster as presenters are Plain Old Ruby Object (PORO)
+- views are more readable and maintainable
+- decreases number of CE -> EE merge conflicts since code is in separate files
+- moves the conflicts from views (not always obvious) to presenters (a lot easier to resolve)
+
+## What not to do with presenters?
+
+- Don't use helpers in presenters. Presenters are not aware of the view context.
+- Don't generate complex DOM elements, forms etc. with presenters. Presenters
+ can return simple data as texts, and URLs using URL helpers from
+ `Gitlab::Routing` but nothing much more fancy.
+
+## Implementation
+
+### Presenter definition
+
+Every presenter should inherit from `Gitlab::View::Presenter::Simple`, which
+provides a `.presents` method which allows you to define an accessor for the
+presented object. It also includes common helpers like `Gitlab::Routing` and
+`Gitlab::Allowable`.
+
+```ruby
+class LabelPresenter < Gitlab::View::Presenter::Simple
+ presents :label
+
+ def text_color
+ label.color.to_s
+ end
+
+ def to_partial_path
+ 'projects/labels/show'
+ end
+end
+```
+
+In some cases, it can be more practical to transparently delegate all missing
+method calls to the presented object, in these cases, you can make your
+presenter inherit from `Gitlab::View::Presenter::Delegated`:
+
+```ruby
+class LabelPresenter < Gitlab::View::Presenter::Delegated
+ presents :label
+
+ def text_color
+ # color is delegated to label
+ color.to_s
+ end
+
+ def to_partial_path
+ 'projects/labels/show'
+ end
+end
+```
+
+### Presenter instantiation
+
+Instantiation must be done via the `Gitlab::View::Presenter::Factory` class which
+detects the presenter based on the presented subject's class.
+
+```ruby
+class Projects::LabelsController < Projects::ApplicationController
+ def edit
+ @label = Gitlab::View::Presenter::Factory
+ .new(@label, current_user: current_user)
+ .fabricate!
+ end
+end
+```
+
+You can also include the `Presentable` concern in the model:
+
+```ruby
+class Label
+ include Presentable
+end
+```
+
+and then in the controller:
+
+```ruby
+class Projects::LabelsController < Projects::ApplicationController
+ def edit
+ @label = @label.present(current_user: current_user)
+ end
+end
+```
+
+### Presenter usage
+
+```ruby
+%div{ class: @label.text_color }
+ = render partial: @label, label: @label
+```
+
+You can also present the model in the view:
+
+```ruby
+- label = @label.present(current_user: current_user)
+
+%div{ class: label.text_color }
+ = render partial: label, label: label
+```